Chapter 5

ANNALISE

“You must be very silly!” I cried out, my eyes widening so much they nearly popped out of their sockets.

His head fell back as he burst into laughter.

There was absolutely nothing amusing about this.

“Don’t act so shocked, sister,” he teased, coming closer.

“Step-sister,” I corrected almost immediately, an obnoxious jerk like Knox could never be my blood brother.

He quirked a brow but made no comment about that.

Such a weirdo, calling me sister after making a suggestive bet…

Siblings don’t kiss nor do they think of things like this.

What did I expect from the school’s active hockey captain anyway?

“Oops,” he drawled with a grin. “It seems like little Ms. Perfect got offended.

A sharp hiss left my mouth.

“Watch what you say to me,” I warned, even as a familiar warmth crawled up the sides of my neck.

A dry scoff was his reply.

“It’s just a bet,” he shrugged, “I don’t know why you’re acting like the world is about to end over this.”

My eyes rolled hard.

Can he even hear himself?

“Shameless pervert,” I snapped. “You had better focus on the class, otherwise I'll just walk out of here and inform the teacher you spent the entire session trying to hit on me.”

His brows lifted.

“Is that so?” He mocked as he folded his arms over his chest.

He leaned back in his chair, and my eyes betrayed my action by dipping briefly to the way his biceps flexed under his shirt.

A warm lump rose in my throat.

I swallowed it down rather quickly before the intense heat that came with it would spread to the entirety of my body like an unwanted virus.

He noticed and as expected rubbed it in.

“If it wasn’t for those crimson ears of yours,” he mused, his irritating grin stretching wider, “I would have believed you were genuinely irritated.”

My face burned hotter.

But what I hated more was how my body reacted to his words.

“Make one more stupid inappropriate comment and I swear I’ll slap you,” I said through clenched teeth.

 He made to speak.

“You wouldn't kn…”

I cut him off crudely, “Dare me.”

His face morphed into one of mock surprise and subtle delight.

“Alright,” he murmured, raising both hands in mock surrender. “The ship is all yours, captain so please take us to wherever pleases you.”

His voice dipped lower on the last part and subconsciously my breath hitched before I could stop it.

A knowing smirk curved the corner of his lips at the sound.

The bastard! 

He fucking knew what he was doing to me and he was enjoying every miserable second of it.

My palms slammed against the table.

“You know what… Fuck you!”

I stood abruptly, the chair almost toppling behind me.

But before I could storm off, his hand shot out and closed around my wrist.

My whole body jerked at his touch.

“Wait.”

I tried to pull my hand from his grip and failed at that too, “Let go of me Knox.”

His grip tightened…not painfully but firm enough to keep me there.

“We're done here since you have refused to take anything serious,” I bit out.

He shook his head, and to my disbelief, his facial features morphed into a pleading look.

“Please don’t go,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

I stared at him blankly.

The apology sounded so foreign coming from Knox Callahan.

“I was just trying to get you to loosen up.” He added.

I gave a humourless laugh, “By making sexual jokes?”

“No.” He exhaled. “I mean…maybe a little but I was only trying to make you comfortable around me sis.”

I blinked, still finding it hard to believe him despite the remorseful look sitting on his face.

He rubbed the back of his neck as I didn’t say anything.

For one brief stupid second, he almost looked embarrassed.

Almost.

Then he just had to ruin it… proving to me why my intuition was right.

“I didn’t know you’d be this uptight about it though,” he muttered under his breath.

My eyes narrowed at him

“I heard that.”

His familiar annoying grin returned immediately and he looked up at me.

“He He… Ignore it.”

I just stared.

“Sit please,” he urged me. “I am ready to learn now Sensei,” he added.

I did not trust him one bit.

But walking out would mean reporting to Mr. Dane and I wasn’t in the mood for any lecture on forgiveness and being the bigger person again.

So with a sigh, I yanked my wrist from his grip and sat back down.

“Fine. But if you interrupt me again, I swear…”

“Yeah… yeah, I get it already. If I do, you’d unleash…”

I shot him a murderous look.

He mimed zipping his lips.

For the next miraculous minutes, peace existed.

I explained the equations and he actually attempted them without acting coy.

“Will you do your exercise and stop staring at me, Knox?” I asked him when I could no longer ignore the weight of his heated gaze fixated on me.

“I am doing my exercise.”

“Yeah right… you have been writing and erasing that same number for the last thirty seconds”

I met his eyes to see his mouth curve.

“Maybe I’m thinking.”

“You don’t think Knox,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.

I returned my attention to the textbook and flipped to the next page, trying not to indulge him.

For ten whole seconds there was silence and I almost sighed in relief, when, “How do you maintain all this hair?”

“What?”

“Your hair,” he repeated. “It’s… a lot.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

Out of every possible thing he could have chosen to say in the middle of a mathematics lesson…that was what had entered his head?

“Love and patience,” I replied dryly, gathering a handful of it over one shoulder. “Two things I highly doubt you possess.”

His lips parted.

For once, Knox Callahan looked momentarily caught off guard by my smooth unexpected jab.

“I- I was just-” he stuttered.

A soft laugh left my lips.

He narrowed his eyes at me, “Did you just laugh at me?”

“Focus please,” I said, tapping the notebook with my pen. “And stop trying to cosplay as an observant stepbrother.”

He leaned back in his chair with a scoff.

“Your call.”

He went back to his exercise, and I watched him work.

Just one more hour in this room with him.

Soon he was done and he shoved the notebook toward me.

“Done.”

I dragged it closer, going over the stuff he had written.

“This is surprisingly an improvement.”

He leaned an elbow on the desk.

“Oh? Is that praise I hear?”

“Don’t get excited,” I said flatly. “Your better still doesn’t mean good.”

His mouth twitched.

I continued before he could make another irritating comment, “It just means if you actually used your brain for things other than making disgusting jokes, you might pass this term.”

“What do you mean by that?” he asked.

I opened my mouth to explain but stilled when he leaned forward slightly.

Why did the room suddenly feel warmer?

Then he moved.

At first I thought he was reaching for the notebook but instead he reached across and let his hand slide deliberately up my thigh.

I froze.

“You mean this?”

There was a smug look on his face as he watched my face the whole time.

Heat exploded through me… anger first, then something far more humiliating followed too closely behind it.

My hand flew before I could think.

I had been itching to this since I stepped into this house if I was being honest to myself.

The slap cracked across his cheek causing his face to turn slightly with the impact.

Silence.

My chest heaved.

For a second he just stayed turned… rubbing his cheek before turning back to face me with that infuriating smirk curled onto his lips.

“Feisty,” he murmured.

I wanted to strangle him.

“Touch me again and I will break your fingers.”

He gave a soft hum as though considering that before he leaned again to close the space between us.

His mouth was just hovering inches from mine, breaths mingling.

All my threats just went down the drain…

Our lips were not touching.

And he just remained there, just close enough for me to feel his breath.

He was close enough that my brain stopped producing useful thoughts and started producing only static.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

His eyes dropped to my mouth.

My breathing grew ragged.

And then front door opened downstairs.

We both froze.

Voices floated up from the entrance hall. 

It was his father's laugh and my mother was speaking in the background too.

Knox pulled back slowly. 

His dark and unreadable emerald gaze remained on my flushed face.

My hands shot forward to grab my textbook which I shut so hard.

I didn't wait. 

I didn't even say goodnight to my mother or his father… my new step father.

My heavily breathing ass rushed straight up the stairs and into my slightly cool bedroom.

The door slammed shut.

I pressed my back against the closed door then stood there in the dark, panting.

My eyes stared at the ceiling while hugging my books tightly.

Knox had bullied me for a year. 

He had mocked my tics in front of crowds. 

He had grabbed me by the throat in a school hallway and threatened me.

So I needed someone to explain to me, the exact reason my pulse was still racing as if I had just sprinted in a marathon?

And why the heat in my cheeks had nothing to do with the immense anger I should be feeling instead.